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I'm going to be looking for a family/bike/dog carrier for about £5,000. I live close to work so no need for a diesel. What are the most reliable options at this price?
Toyota. Which one is decided by how big you need it to be.
Volvo V70 pre 2006 year with the 2.4 non turbo petrol.
Look for a low mileage cossited example.
Our 20year old example is the car equivalent of a German Shepherd dog - it's not the best at any one thing it's just good at everything.
I agree with @RustyNissanPrairie. I am now driving a 20 year-old XC90, and it is faultless. Before it, I had two petrol 740GLEs in a row, and only got something else because there was no Volvo estate big enough for my family.
Now that I don’t have as many kids at home, I have been able to return to Volvo, and have no regrets.
Non tutbo, natural aspirated Japanese petrol (speaking at the owner of a 16yr old Honda Accord estate that has never given us any issues). Maybe auto too (no clutch?)
+1 for a Toyota. My sister has an ancient auto Yaris which has rarely been serviced and just keeps going. Last time she stopped by she wanted my assistance as the bonnet wouldn't open. Turned out the hinge of the catch was rusted so badly the cable couldn't pull it far enough to release. Shows how often she checks her oil.
Managed to persuade it to open with a long screwdriver and apply loads of WD40 followed by grease.
Honda civic.
I had a mark 1 Octavia vrs for 50,000 miles. It was a great car. It bust a couple of coil packs which are a 10 min job to change.
I did 60,000 in a civic estate. 0 problems just tires disks and pads.
I'd you can't get a civic estate for that, if go the newest accord estate in budget. My day had an accident for 15 years. Only started to have problems as he didn't maintain it much when it got to around 30 years old.
Dacia Logan MCV.
Accord wagon, Avensis estate. V70.
Someone may be along soon and recommend a Saab 95. I'd advise against this. My Aero was a one trick pony (fastish in a straight line) but shit at almost everything else other than being big. It's a Vectra in an ugly frock. Conversely, I love my subsequent v70 far more than a man of my non pensionable age should. It just does everything better. Everything seems thought out, well placed, and it's just a nicer place to be
A Toyota or a Honda - which one is just down to your preference.
+1 for a Toyota. My sister has an ancient auto Yaris
I met my Mrs in 2015 and she had a 2004 Yaris. I eventually managed to convince her to sell it in 2021. I don't think she ever had it serviced. Nothing ever went wrong with it. It passed every MOT without fail. She'd never had the timing belt changed. Absolutely bombproof
Toyota Avensis estate, natural asp, chain, same interior as the as a Superb, reasonable mpg
I had a 2011 Octavia 1.8TSi estate for over 10 years, was always reliable (even though I only had it serviced intermittently), a later model year smaller engine one I'd assume would be decent to.
Avensis estate
I very nearly bought a petrol Avensis because I wanted something boring and reliable with plenty of space.
Ended up with a diesel Octavia, which is probably more engaging to drive - and probably suits my use case better.
I still look wistfully at a nice Avensis when I see one though. There's something admirable about such a nondescript car. And they are supposedly incredibly reliable in the petrol versions.
At that price point I'd buy based on condition and the seller, not model. Search on Autotrader for a petrol estate in your area and see what comes up. I'd rather buy a low owner Mercedes from a private seller with a pristine house than a trade in Japanese car being sold at a dealer. I love Japanese cars but often they're abused towards the end of their life as everyone thinks they don't need looking after.
I just picked up a 2011 Mazda 5 for £1100. 107k miles and only 1 month MOT left on it. Replaced both rear tyres (£180) and rear discs and pads (£80), did the headlight cleaning kit thing as they were yellowed (£15). Put it in for MOT yesterday and it passed with only a couple of minor fixes on front suspension (£90).
2.0 petrol, chain cam, naturally aspirated, no DMF. Only gets about 30MPG but hopefully that'll be well offset by minimal repair bills as less to go wrong (it's replacing a 1.6 diesel Peugeot 5008 that was on it's way to a lot of big bills shortly). This is East Yorkshire so no ULEZ influence on prices around here thankfully.
I had a mark 1 Octavia vrs for 50,000 miles. It was a great car. It bust a couple of coil packs which are a 10 min job to change.
My 18 year old, mk 1 Octavia 1.8T vRS estate just clocked over 170,000 miles. I've just put new coil packs on it too. Other than that just regularly serviced, standard stuff like tyres and it still starts first time, every time and never misses a beat. Still a nice car to drive too.
At that price point I’d buy based on condition and the seller, not model. Search on Autotrader for a petrol estate in your area and see what comes up. I’d rather buy a low owner Mercedes from a private seller with a pristine house than a trade in Japanese car being sold at a dealer. I love Japanese cars but often they’re abused towards the end of their life as everyone thinks they don’t need looking after.
Excellent point, there were lots of Avensii (?) that I swerved 'cos they were from dubious dealers with a lack of SH.
I narrowed it down to a couple which had been owned by older chaps for 10 years+ with FSH, but then bought a car from DrP off here instead 😀
Decade+ old Berlingo is in budget 😉 but probably only about 5% will be petrol.
I'd consider one personally as a second/skip/bike carrying type car.
My immediate thought would be a Honda of whatever size you need.
They never seem to get mentioned in these threads but we’ve found various Suzuki models to be pretty bombproof over the years. I have an S-Cross that looks like an estate to me and should be cheap given that it is ugly as sin 😀 Bought it new and have put 135k on it so far and it hasn’t missed a beat yet. Other than servicing, tyres and brakes all I’ve had to replace is one ABS speed sensor at around 120k.
I put 130k on my 1.6 petrol C-max (it was written off by a Zaffira at ~150k) and the only non-consumables I had to replace were
Front suspension bushes
An alternator (and a surprising number of batteries, the two may be linked though)
1 power steering hose (under warranty and a known fault with them).
1 wheel bearing
Everything else was just tyres, brakes and the service schedule etc.
That was an older one (so more like £500 now), but if you avoid the wet belt engines the new-er ones should be prety much as good.
Not technically an estate, but the headroom does make it an even nicer place to sit or load with big luggage.
Volvo V70 pre 2006 year with the 2.4 non turbo petrol.
Having driven old cars for 30 years almost, I don't think I could describe any 20 year old car as reliable. I've never had a Volvo, so maybe I'm missing out, but so many parts perish with age.
It's tough at the moment because cheap punts just don't seem to exist any more and newer models of even cheap cars are so expensive. For 5k though I'd be siding towards something newer that isn't slowly turning to dust.
Honda Accord
IIRC the diesels were prone to expensive clutch failures. There's a handful of big engined petrol versions about. I don't remember if this applied to the newer face-lift versions mind.
tbf, I’d class suspension bushes and wheel bearings as consumables.
anyway, to the op.
the cheapest cars I’ve ever run have been a subaru forester, a nissan primera, and the cheapest by a country mile a 2003 mk3 mondeo.
"I’ve never had a Volvo, so maybe I’m missing out, but so many parts perish with age."
Ours is on 207k miles and still going strong. Big lazy unstressed basic engines, autos/no clutch, simple front suspension for control arm/bush changes. Find a <100k mile one in Burgundy that's been family owned and garaged since new and you'd be better than buying something newer with more miles.
For reliable AND cheap then my M59 Berlingo/Partner is by far the cheapest car I've ever owned. OEM parts are dirt cheap and it's basic and reliable. Perfect for doggo and bike transport like mine is. Downsides are complete lack of style.
It’s tough at the moment because cheap punts just don’t seem to exist any more and newer models of even cheap cars are so expensive. For 5k though I’d be siding towards something newer that isn’t slowly turning to dust.
6 Vs 1/2 dozen but I'd argue that you'll almost always save money going older and cheaper.
Buy a £1000 car, and put £4000 in a stocks and shares ISA. I'd bet that on average the shares appreciate faster than the car breaks down. Even if you treated it as bangernomics and binned it at each minor inconvenience you'd be unlucky to have to do that in less than 2-3 years.
Where it get's dicey is >20 years. At that point even cars that don't have a reputation for rust will start to rust. Our Fiesta is going on the inside door skin form the inside out, so it's only a matter of time until it shows through the outer skin.
tbf, I’d class suspension bushes and wheel bearings as consumables.
So would I, just trying to think of everything that wasn't a stamp in the book job.
OH's Fiesta which is similar mechanicals has been the same. A handful of minor inconveniences but otherwise it's done almost 170k, not bad for a 20yr old city hatch.
Petrol Fords are pretty bullet proof (especially the older non Eco Boost ones) Wife has had two Fiestas and I ran a Focus ST for 5 years and never had any issues with any of them, unlike the various VAG card that preceded them.
Primera!!
Can you still get spares for those!? Haven't seen one on the roads for years, I'd forgotten they existed!
I'm running a 22 year old Primera P12. Not many about. I've had it 21 of the 22 years. Exceptionally reliable. I've a saloon, but the estates are rare.
Citroen c3 Picasso
Even cheaper horrible GM parts bin that my 95, with the added bonus of the chance of a a bulkhead that you might be able to see daylight through. Avoid.
It'll be fun but thirsty
I've a 2007 2.0 Subaru Legacy estate. It's just been such a great car for over a decade. I do pretty low mileage so the 27mpg doesn't bother me. Yes it's slow and thirsty but it's the space, sound, comfort, fun and the fact it's quite unusual that I love. Can't see me parting with it until it's knackered.
Toyota Avensis. You can moonlight as a taxi driver and you won’t need another. I looked at newer petrol hybrid, but the battery eats boot space and a dog cage wouldn’t fit.
It's unusual for a car thread to have a definitive answer - but it has to be an Avensis, doesn't it?
Did you pick anything up yet OP?
I was in a Corolla estate Uber last week. Nice car
The driver said the non-hybrid had much more luggage space